One of the biggest American stars at the Winter Olympics is 25-year-old snowboarder Chloe Kim, who competed in the halfpipe final on Thursday with her boyfriend, Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett, in attendance.
Garrett was seen wearing a customized jacket featuring Kim as she earned silver in a highly competitive event that saw 17-year-old Gaon Choi take gold.
Garrett and Kim have gone viral over the past few days for their heartwarming embraces, as well as his animated reactions from the sidelines, where he carried a large camera to capture her runs. But his three-word reaction to watching Kim compete summed it up best.
Asked what it was like to watch her attempt history by going for a third consecutive gold medal in the event, Garrett kept it simple: “Exciting but terrifying.”
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Kim entered her final run with a score of 88.00, needing to surpass the 90.25 that Choi posted on her third and final attempt. Rather than play it safe, Kim chose to push for history — and she doesn’t appear to have any regrets.
“I wanna go for it,” Kim said, via The Athletic. “Because that’s what I do.”
She wasn’t even sure she would be able to compete after suffering a partial labrum tear in her shoulder just over a month ago and hadn’t finished a competition since that injury. So protecting herself or coasting in hopes of posting a safe, winning score was never part of the plan.
While she is not the first Olympian to win three consecutive gold medals in the halfpipe, she is the first woman to medal in the event at three straight Olympics — a historic accomplishment, especially considering she’s still in her mid-20s.
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